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Why I gamble: Sports betting is a labor of love

By Brett Smiley, SportsHandle

February 9, 2019 at 12:18 pm

I’ve voluntarily purchased new clothing three times since 2007. I clip coupons. I have an annual September calendar reminder to call SiriusXM, to threaten to cancel my subscription. They don’t like to lose customers, so each time they give me their latest promotional rate. I regularly sign up for and track my credit cards in a spreadsheet to take advantage of new promotional offers and maximize rewards. The point is, I’m frugal and financially savvy in many regards.

But when it comes to sports betting, I take risks. Lots of them, every week, mainly during the NFL season. It’s a 22-week long grind that requires adherence to a weekly routine, involving several sports betting podcasts, numerous articles from trusted writers and keen football observers, a dash of film study, some prognosticating, modeling/power ranking, some intuition and a sense of smell, like the pinball wizard, for bad lines and trap games.